Work hood



Oct. 16, 1934. HQLES 1,977,386

WORK HOOD Filed Feb. 17, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l Armcwa's Oct. 16, 1934.

F. A. HOLES WORK HOOD 2 SheetsSheet 2 Filed Feb. 17, 1934 ATTOQA/EKSPatented Got. 16, 1934 UNITED sures WORK HOOD Floyd A. Holes, Cleveland,Ohio, assignor to Memorial Art Studio, Cleveland, Ohio, a copartnershipApplication February 17, 1934, Serial No. 711,778

8 Claims.

This invention relates to work hoods and particularly to work hoods forcovering articles or work pieces while work operations are beingperformed thereon.

While the work hood embodying my invention may be applied to varioususes, it is particularly applicable to cover work upon which sandblasting and like operations are performed.

It is an object of my invention to provide generally an improved workcovering hood.

Another object is to provide an improved Work covering hood for coveringwork pieces upon which sand blasting or like dust-creating operationsare performed.

Another object is to provide a work hood of the class referred to havingan improved mode of operation.

Another object is to provide a work hood for covering work upon whichsand blast and like operations are performed, having improved means forre-collecting the sand, shot or the like used in the operation.

Another object is to provide a work hood of the class referred to havingimproved means for removing dust resulting from the operation performedunder the hood.

Another object is to provide a work hood of improved constructionwhereby the interior of the hood may be illuminated in an improved somanner.

Another object is to provide an improved hood of the class referred toadapted to be conveyed, in an improved manner, to the work upon which awork operation is to be performed.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which myinvention appertains.

My invention is fully disclosed in the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a simplified perspective view illustrating an embodiment of myinvention and illustrating a preferred mode of transportation andoperation of the same, and its adaptability to be moved from place toplace to work pieces to be operated upon.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of an embodiment of my inventionillustrating the manner of using the same in connection with theperformance of a sand blast operation upon a portion of a gravemarker'or monument;

' Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the embodiment of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the embodiment of Fig.3 taken approximately from the plane 4 of that figure;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view to an enlarged scale taken fromthe plane 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken from the plane 6--6 of Fig.4;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 5 illustrating a modification;

Fig. 8 is a view generally similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating anothermode of transportation and operation of an embodiment of my invention.

As will appear hereinafter, my invention is particularly useful inconnection with the manufacture of grave markers, monuments and the likeupon which flowers and other ornamentation are shaped or carved on stoneby sand blast or like operation. Such monuments are customarily partlyfinished, awaiting sale thereof. Upon the sale of a monument it isfinished by applying a selected design of ornamentation thereto. Inshaping or carving ornamentation on the stone, it is common practice totransport it to a closed room in which the sand blast or like operationis performed. Floor space must thus be provided for the room andfacilities must be provided and labor expended in transporting themonuments to and from the room.

By the employment of my invention, as will hereinafter become clear, awork hood within which the sand blast operation may be performed, isprovided suspended from above and adapted to be lowered upon and aroundthe work piece or monument for performance of the sand blast operationand withdrawn upwardly after the completion thereof. It is thusunnecessary to reserve floor space for a sand blast room. Furthermore,if desired, monuments awaiting sale may be set up for display in rows onthe floor of the plant and may be finished by sand blasting theornamentation thereon without movingthe monument.

Thus a saving of plant area. and a saving in time and labor may readilybe eifected in the practice of my invention.

In Fig. 1 I have illustrated one arrangement of apparatus whereby myinvention may be practiced. At is indicated generally a work hoodcomprising a relatively rigid top portion 1 and a flexible skirt 2depending from and supported thereby. The top-portion 1 together withthe depending skirt is detachably secured to a crane hook or the like 3on the end of a cable 4 which passes upwardly over a pulley 6 anddownwardly into engagement with a book 66. The hood 65 may thus besuspended over a monument or other work piece. 5 supported on a worktable or banker 38 standing upon the floor for performance of a sandblast operation within the hood on the work piece in a manner to bedescribed. After the operation, the hood 65 may be raised by the cable 4and suspended in an out-of-the-way position. The cable 4 after passingover the pulley 6 may be provided with a plurality of links 67engageable with the hook 66 to determine the suspended position of thehood 65.

The pulley 66 may be supported upon a carriage 7 running on wheels 8upon a rail 68 whereby the hood may be transported from place to placealong the floor to any one of a row of work pieces 55.

The top 1 in the particular embodiment illustrated comprises arectangular frame 9 preferably composed of angle iron having a verticalflange 10 and a horizontal flange 11. A plurality of sash elements12-12, preferably of metal, incline inwardly upwardly from the frame 9and are 'secured thereto at their lower ends and at their upper ends aresecured to a head element 13 preferably formed from sheet metal. Windowpanes orinserts 14 preferably composed of celluloid, glass or liketransparent material, are supported upon the frame 9, head 13 and sashelements 1212 and thus completely close the space between the frame 9and the head 13.

The panes maybe covered on their inner faces with metal screen ifdesired for a purpose to be described. A joint construction betweenedges of the panes is and the frame 9, sash elements 12 and head 13, maybe provided whereby the same may be air-tight or dust-proof. As will beapparent, by this construction the panes 14 will be disposed at an angleto the horizontal fora purpose to be described, although this is not anessential feature of my invention. The said joint construction mayprovide for the convenient removal and renewal of the window panes in amanher well known and not necessary .to be further described herein.

Secured to the upper side of the sheet metal head 13 is a plurality suchas four links 15-15 secured at one end to spaced portions of the head13, upwardly inclining therefrom and secured together at a convergingpoint 16 and joined to an eye 17 adapted to receive the above mentionedcrane hook 3. Preferably the head 13 is rectangular, of the same generalproportions as the rectangular frame 9 and thus the windows 14 in thetop' as a whole are generally of the same width in their inclineddirections.

A central, preferably rectangular perforation 18 is providedsubstantially at the center of the rectangular head 13 andtheperforation is covered by a small hood 19 of sheet metal secured tothe head 13 at the periphery of the perforation. An exhaust pipe 20communicates with the interior of the hood 19 and is sealedly connectedthereto and preferably of the known commercial type comprising a hose ofrubber or the like with an inner helical wire to prevent collapsingunder vacuum and may have. a generally helical wound external armor toprotect the same and at the same time allow for free bending thereof.

Secured to the under side: of the head 13 is a pair of longitudinallyspaced depending flexiible conduit arms 22-22 carrying at their lowerends electric lamps 2323 and. reflectors 24-24 therefor. A two-wireelectric cord 25 is carried through a perforation 26 in the. .head 13lined by an insulating bushing 27 and inwardly of the head 13 isconnectedv to wires not shown' in the conduit arms 2222 leading to thelamps 2323 in a well known manner.

Switches 28-28 of well known construction are provided for the lamps 23whereby they may be individually connected to or disconnected from thesource of current to turn the lamps 23 on and oif. The reflectors 24 arepreferably of generally parabolic form and have covers 2929 thereforsecured to the periphery of the reflector by metal clips 30-30. Thecovers 29 are preferably formed from metal screen to protect the lamps23--23 from abrasive action of the sand blast or the like to bedescribed and may be removed by operation of the clips 30-30 to renewthe same when they have become worn by abrasive action incidental to theperformance of sand blast operations.

The conduit arms 22-22 may be of the flexible armored conduit typewhereby the lamps 23-23 may be maintained in any desired position towhich they are manually moved, to reflect the light thereof upon workwithin the hood as may be desired.

A rail 31 is supported by a plurality of hangers 32 upon the frame 9directly under the same. A plurality of wire hangers 33-33 slidablymovable on the rail 31 engage a plurality of eyelets 3434 in the upperedge of the curtain or skirt 2 to support the'same on the rail 31, and aflap 35 is secured to the skirt 2, extends upwardly therefrom, and hasin its upper edge a steel spring or an elastic cord or the like 36whereby the upper edge of the flap 35 may be resiliently drawn inwardlyto engage the vertical flange 10 of the angle iron frame 9 to seal theskirt thereupon. By this construction the skirt 2 may be suspended fromthe head 1, although sealed thereupon, and may conveniently be removedwhen desired, and to this end and for purposes which will becomeapparent, the skirt is preferably made from flexible material such asfabric.

The skirt 2 terminates at a distance of several feet below the frame 9'and has a draw string 37 running in a hem at the lower end thereof. Ifpreferred a spring or elastic cord maybe used in stead of the drawingstring.

In the operation of the hood thus far described, it is firsttransported, for example on the rail 68 Fig. 1, to a work piece such asa monument '5 supported upon an individual work table or bankor 38 andlowered thereover. The draw string or cord 37 is expanded around andupon and allowed to resiliently engage and grip an upper portion of thebanker 38 to seal the skirt thereupon as shown in Fig. 2. The hood isthen lowered still farther and lateral portions thereof form an annularpocket 39 around the table 38 below the monument 5. To more effectuallyclose the lower end of the skirt, it may constrictingly embrace thebanker 38 under an overhanging shelf 69 thereon.

The skirt in lateral portions thereof below the top 1 is provided with aplurality such as two'or four sleeves iii-40 formed from fabric or likeflexible material, sealed at one end to the periphery of suitableopenings in the skirt and normally depending therefrom inwardly as shownin Fig. 6, and may have an elastic cord 41 at the end to normally closeand seal the same.

In operation, an operator indicated in broken lines at 42, Fig. 2, takesin his hand a'sand blast tool 43 connected by a hose 44 to a source ofcom.- pressed air-blown abrasive sand, shot, or thelike, and projectshis two arms through two adjacent sleeves 40 into the. interior oftheskirt 2 The top 1 is suitably lowered until the windows 14 are at such aheight that the operator may place his face close to the exteriorthereof and view the interior of the hood. The operator can then-turn onone or the other of the lamps 23-23 to illuminatehis work. He may thencarve or shape an ornament on the monument in relief by means of thesand blast 46.

By looking through the windows 14, the operator may accurately guide andcontrol the work. The fit of his arms in the sleeves 40 prevents dustfrom escaping from the hood and as above stated all other parts of thehood 'are substantially sealed. As the work progresses he may move thelamps 23 by their flexible arms 22 as desired. During progress of thework, sand, shot or the like used in the operation may collect in theannular loop 39 as at 47. By providing a suitable number of sleeves4e-40, the operator may move from one pair of sleeves to another toreach dilferent parts of the work conveniently.

To accurately predetermine the design or ornamentation, a suitablestencil may be employed but inasmuch as stencils for this purpose arewell known in this art and constitute no essential part of the presentinvention, they need not be described herein.

During the operation, suction on the exhaust pipe may be applied towithdraw light dust from the hood so that the work may at all times begenerally clear andclean and so that dust between the windows 14 and thework 5 will not obscure the design being developed on the work.Sufficient air may enter through the sleeves -40 and around the worktable 38 through the space between it and the elastic cord or drawstring 37, to supply a flow of air toward the exhaust pipe 20. It willbe observed that the sleeves 40 are near enough to the windows 14 sothat the operator may reach up and wipe off the window at any timehefinds it desirable to remove dust settled thereon.

After the operation is complete, the material at 4.7 will largelyconsist of blasting-sand, shot, or the like and this may be recovered byraising the annular loop 39 to'cause the sand and shot to flow around toone side such as the rear side of the skirt where a depending sleeve orspout 48 may be provided normally closed and sealed at its lower end bya draw string 49. Upon opening the sleeve 48 by removing the draw string49, the sand, shot, or the like may flow into a receptacle such as abucket placed thereunder.

To remove the hood it is only necessary to elevate the crane hook 3 inthe manner described and to release the drawing string or elastic cord3'7 from the banker 38.

If desired, and as will be apparent, in the case of a larger monument,which may stand upon the floor, the sealing string or cord 37 may beconstrictingly drawn directly around the monument to seal the hood atthat point.

Any suitable source of suction or exhaust may be provided to which theexhaust pipe 20 may be connected and any suitable source of electriccurrent may be provided for the lamps 23--23. One suitable arrangementis illustrated in Fig. l. A main exhaust duct '70 is supported in agenerally horizontal position upon the wall of a building a suitabledistance from the floor; one end thereof as at '71 may be closed and theother end may be connected to a suitable air exhaust pump. A pluralityof branch ducts '72-72 communicate with the duct '70 and are normallyclosed by removable plugs 73-73. The branch ducts '72 are spaced alongthe duct '70 opposite bankers 3838 upon which monuments or other workpieces 55 may be placed ready to have ornamentation shaped thereon. Anelectric conduit '74 may be secured upon the wall underthe duct and haveoutlets '7575 disposed preferably adjacent the branch ducts 72- 72.Therail 68. may be disposed so that the hood- 65 suspended therefromwill hang at a suitable distance from the wall.

With this arrangement as will be apparent from Fig. 1, when the'hood 65is lowered over a work piece or monument 5 and banker 38, and issuspended by the hook 66, the end of the exhaust pipe 20, which may havea suitable coupling '76 thereon is joined or plugged into the adjacentbranch duct '72 after removing the plugs '73 and thereby exhaust suctionmaybeapplied to the interior of the hood. correspondingly, the doublecord 25, which may have on the end thereof a suitable prong connector,may be plugged into an adjacent outlet 75 to supply current to the lamps23- 23.

The exhaust pipe 20 and wire 25 may be of suitable length so that it maynot be necessary to disconnect them from the duct '72 andioutlet '75when the hood is raised from its work position; but if the hood is to bemoved farther along on the floor, they may be disconnected from onepoint of the duct '70 and conduit '74 and connected to another in amanner that will now be clear.

Where the apparatus is disposed adjacent a wall as shown in Fig. l, thehooks 66-66 may be secured to the wall.

In Fig. 8 I have illustrated another arrangement of apparatus by whichmy invention may be practiced.- In this form a crane of the bridge'typerunning on rails 8181 has the cable 4 for supporting the hood 65depending from a bridge-carriage 82. The exhaust pipe 20 and wire 25 maybe looped over a suitable support on the bridge 80 and thence may go topermanent con nections with respectively an exhaustduct and source ofcurrent. The hood 65 may be lowered upon any spot on the floor toenclose bankers 38 and work pieces or monuments 5 thereon.

In Fig. '7 is illustrated a modified form of connection between theupper end of the skirt 60 and the frame 61. In this case the skirt iscarried up beyond the vertical flange 62 of the angle iron frame anddownwardly inside thereof. Bolts 63 may be projected through theportions of the skirt thus disposed on opposite sides of the flange 62and through the flange 62 itself to clamp the upper end of the skirtsecurely to the flange.

It will be apparent that other operations than sand blasting may beperformed in the work hood of my invention, for example welding, andother operations wherein either the operator must be protected or theby-products of the operation must be confined and not allowed to escapeinto the room in which the work is done. Where welding is performed, thewindows 14 may be of colored glass to absorb harmful rays of light andthe skirt 2 may be formed from asbestos or other fireproof fabric.

It will therefore be apparent that changes and modifications in theabove described embodiment of my invention may be made without departingfrom. the spirit thereof and without sacrihaving attaching meansassociated therewith for' attachment to a hoist apparatus whereby thehood may be lowered over and around a work piece, .and the cup skirthaving constricting means associated therewith and operabletoconstrictinglyengage a lower portionof the skirt with a work piecesupport or the like. T

2. A work hood generallyofinverted cup form having attachi g meansassociated therewith for attachment, to a hoist apparatus whereby thehood maybe lowered over and around a work piece-and suspended fromabove, and the skirt being provided with constricting means at a lowerportion thereof operable toconstrictingly embrace. 21, work piecesupport or ,thelike.

3. A work hood generally of invertedcup form having attaching meansassociated therewith for attachmentto a hoist apparatus whereby the,hood may belowered overgandaround, awork piece, the .cupform hood havingan aperture through whicha workers-arm maybeprojected-into thehoodinterior todo .worktherein and a transparent window through which.he may viewthe work. a

. 4.. A-work hood generally of inverted. cup form having attachingmeans/associated therewith for attachment. to ahoistapparatus wherebythe hood may be lowered over andaround a work piece and suspended fromabove,rthe cup .form hood; having .an aperture through which a workersarm may be projected into the hood inter-ior to do work therein. and atransparent wine dow through whichhe may View the work, and the skirtbeing providedwith constricting means at a lower portion thereofoperable ,to' constrictingly embrace a work support or the like.

=5: A-work hood generally of inverted cup form having attaching meansassociated therewith for attachment to a hoist apparatus whereby-thehood may'be' lowered over and around a work piece' an exhaust conduitmeans adapted to be securedto the hood communicating with its 'in-.terior, and adapted tobe connected to a sub.- atmospheric pressureexhaust apparatus, and theskirt being. provided with constricting meansat a-lower'portion thereof operable to constrictingly embracea workpiece support or ,the like.

6. A work hoodcomprising a head'and a flexible skirt dependingtherefrom, 8;.WiildOW in the head disposedat an angle tothe vertical,through which work within the ,hood may be viewed, an aperture throughthe skirt through which a workers. arm may be projected into the hoodinterior to, do work therein, an exhaust conduit means adapted to besecured tothe head communicating with the hood. interior and adapted .tobeconnected toa sub-atmosphericpressure exhaustv apparatus, and theskirt being provided with constricting means ata lower portion thereofoperable to constrictingly embrace a work piece support or the like.

7. In a-work hood, a head, a flexible skirt depending therefrom, a lampsupported on the head interiorly of the hood and movable to adjustablyposition it, electric conductors connected to the lamp extendingoutwardly through the head and adapted to be connected to a source ofcurrent, an aperture in the skirt through which a workers arm. may beprojected to do work within the hood, an exhaust conduit secured to thehead communicating with the interior of the hood and externallythereofadapted to be connected to a source of sub-atmospheric pressure forexhausting the hood, a transparent window in the head through which aworker may iew work beingperformed by him within the hood, and attaching.means on the head by which it may be attached to a hoist apparatuswhereby the hood may belowered over, and around a work piece andsuspended from above.

8. In a work hood, a head, a flexible skirt depending therefrom, a lampsupported on the head interiorly of the hood an d movable to adjustablyposition it, electric conductors connected to the lamp extendingoutwardly through the head and adapted to be connected to a source ofcurrent, an aperture in the skirt through which a workers arm may beprojected to do work within the hood, an exhaust conduit secured to theheadcommunicating with the interior of the hoodand externally thereofadapted to be con} nected, to a source of sub-atmospheric pressure forexhausting the hood, a. transparent window in'the head through which aworker may view work being performed by him within the hood, attachingmeanson the head by which it may be attachedto-a hoist apparatus wherebythe hood may be lowered over andaround a work piece and suspended fromabove, and means a ss0. ciated with the skirt for'constrictinglyengaging it with a work piece support or the like.

' FLOYD A. HOLES.

